


Once Upon A Time At SWC

by HastaLux



Category: Dredd (2012), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Cosplay, M/M, Star Wars Convention, Techienician
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 06:12:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18959494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HastaLux/pseuds/HastaLux
Summary: Techie attends a Star Wars Convention dressed as General Hux and meets a really awesome guy dressed as Kylo Ren.





	Once Upon A Time At SWC

The line shifts.

Techie inches forward, his feet already uncomfortable in his boots and the officer’s hat resting awkwardly on his head. He isn’t a hat person, really, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Not when he looks so much like Hux already. The hat just gives him somewhere to hide the rest of his hair.

He’s already had a couple people ask for pictures in the line. Techie tries his best to look stern. It’s a bit easier to get in character around all these people—the stormtroopers and the other officers, First Order and Imperials alike, who address him as sir, the Rebels and Resistance who boo him.

It’s actually  _ fun. _

No one here is worried about where he came from, or why he’s so damn pale, or that he fled halfway across the country a couple years ago to escape what might most optimistically be described as a cult. It’s kind of relaxing, playing someone else for a change. Playing someone people know. Someone they want to meet, and not “that weird computer guy.”

He checks his phone, hitting refresh on the panel reservations (technically broken as far as the public is concerned, but he’d made some modifications to the app so it gives him something of a head start when it does feel like working). He should be able to reserve anything he wants about an hour before without setting of any alarm bells. Techie smiles, not really noticing when a shadow falls across his screen.

“General.” 

He glances up, and up again. Techie’s natural slouch vanishes as his spine instinctively rises to meet the gaze of the mask on the other size of the cordon.  _ Oh wow, he’s big.  _ Whoever it is makes an impressive Ren, that’s for sure. He has the stature for it. “Supreme Leader,” he responds in his best British accent.

“Are you travelling with your officers, General?”

It takes Techie a second to process— _ oh, he’s still in character.  _ He’s not gone to many of these things, but he does know some people won’t break character in costume. It makes sense—this guy is good, too, he even has some kind of vocal rig that sounds like a real vocoder.  _ Is he asking if I’m with one of the garrisons? _ “Not today, Supreme Leader.”

“You should join me,” the deep voice rumbles as the line begins to move again and the crowd shifts Techie away, down the next lane. “There’s an Imperial Shuttle in the hall. I’ll be there in an hour.”

Techie blinks. “Alright,” he murmurs without thinking, turning away before he risks blushing for whatever godforsaken reason. It’s not like he even knows who’s under the Ren mask. Could be anyone. It’s silly of him to assume it’s someone  _ cute _ , just because they’re big and deep-voiced and could probably pick Techie up and pin him to the nearest wall, which his brain really needs to stop providing him images of or he’s going to have a real problem. He tries to focus on Hux’s character instead. Hux wouldn’t be so publicly generous about  _ his  _ Kylo Ren, no matter how much Techie likes to picture them (and read about them, and look at the drawings of them) doing the opposite in private. 

He should try and exercise a little restraint. 

When he’s finally through the bag check, Techie wanders out onto the exhibit floor. There’s so much, and a lot of it he’ll never be able to afford, but he takes pictures. It’s wild just to be in the room with all these other nerds, like being caught in a swirl of genuine, unbridled joy.

His Hux is probably a little more enthusiastic than he should be, but that’s okay. Everyone is.

An hour later, and entirely unsure what he’s getting himself into, he wanders toward the massive Imperial Shuttle. There’s already a line for pictures, and he doesn’t see the Kylo Ren he’s looking for-

“Right on time, General Hux.”

Techie  _ jumps, _ and it’s only a strong gloved hand that keeps him from accidentally leaping into the people standing in line. 

“Apologies,” the vocoder murmurs, but Techie can’t help but think the Ren is smirking somewhere under that mask. 

And, though he might be flattering himself, he’s pretty sure Ren’s hand lingers a little longer than is strictly necessary on his hip.

_ Hmmm. _

“I’m quite sure you did that deliberately, Ren,” he grumbles in Hux’s accent. “Sneaking around with the Force to mask your footsteps. Some of us prefer to rely on technology, you know.” 

“Nonsense, General. You were simply distracted. Though the Force is a far superior tool to any of your supposed technological advances.”

“Of course you would think that. You wouldn’t know a decent engineering diagram if it struck you in the face.” It seems a bit much, but yet again he has the sense that there’s a smile rising under the dark plastic. 

“Careful, General,” he murmurs, low even in the faux-vocoder’s deep tones. 

Techie feels a smile twitch on his own lips. He  _ loves _ it when people find new ways to apply quotes from the films. “My apologies, Supreme Leader. Shall we collect a memorabilia shot for the First Order archives?”

“It would be good for propaganda, General. The troops do like to see a handsome man at their front.”

It takes Techie a second, but only one of them will have a visible face in the photo-  _ Oh.  _ So this big, naturally built like a truck, costumed Ren is also hitting on him. Techie’s thirsty little heart does a silent dance. “Have you eaten yet, Supreme Leader?” The mask turns back to him, and Techie smiles. It’s not in character, but screw that. He has to find out if Ren is cute or not. “I didn’t have a chance before the, ah… muster. This morning.”

“...no, I haven’t,” the Ren says cautiously. 

“Well, the Supreme Leader needs to eat. And we might review our schedules today. Perhaps we have some… similar interests?”  Shameless, maybe, but Techie isn’t going to turn down an opportunity as good as this. Even if the face under that mask doesn’t blow his mind, he’d bet the rest of his copper wire inventory that a body sized like that has some other equipment attached that he’ll be just as interested in. 

“Next!” The man running the photo ops at the shuttle gestures for them to come forward. “You two together?”

“Yes,” the Ren rumbles, and Techie tries his best to turn his pleased smirk into a sneering one. “Propaganda first, General?”

“Of course.” Techie closes his fist by his heart, like Hux does in a lot of the official photos. They must look good- lots of other people are taking pictures of  _ them, _ even people who weren’t in line.  _ Cool.  _ He turns, lifting a brow to the Ren. “Supreme Leader, can I interest you in staging the Starkiller rescue?”

The Ren actually breaks character to fist pump in the air. “Yes! Fuck, yes. Um- I mean. It would be my honor, General. To stage this. For archival purposes.”

Techie nearly laughs- that almost sounded like a real voice, and it’s hilarious to hear profanity come through the vocoder. “Okay- on the ground, and I’ll, like- drag you?”

They work it out, and somehow by the end there’s an even bigger crowd watching, and a few enthusiastic folks yelling about Kylux Rights and ice blue chaise lounges and cats (Techie dramatically cupping Ren’s mask like he’s so very worried and secretly in love probably helps with that, and he’s not even a little sorry). On the way to the food court, they’re stopped fifteen times for photos, getting complimented every time on the accuracy of their uniforms.

When they’re in line for hot dogs and chips Techie finally takes his chance, dropping Hux’s character entirely and letting his usual softer and very American voice out. “So are you gonna take that off to eat?”

“Oh, uh- yeah.” The Ren reaches up and removes the helmet, releasing not the flowing black tresses of the movies, but kind of erratic blonde hair and glasses, a long nose and wide, supple lips.

Techie smiles, though on the inside his brain is melting into something of a victory dance as Ewoks dance across his neurons. “I’m Techie, by the way.”

“Matt.” 

They get their food and find a spot at the edge of a not-fully-occupied table. “So, do you, uh.”  _ Come here often?  _ “Have you been to a lot of these?”

“Oh yeah! Tons. I’ve got a bunch of costumes, but I like doing Kylo more now-” He rambles on, and Techie really only understands about half of it, but that doesn’t matter. He likes watching Matt gesticulate and emphasize unexpected words in his sentences. It’s endearing.

Plus, Matt is super hot.

They go to panels together, during which Matt takes notes on everything and asks questions about the smallest bit of lore, things most people probably never knew in the first place. Techie mostly just watches Matt. His enthusiasm is so easy to catch, and he’s  _ confident _ \- he doesn’t really care that he’s a total uber-nerd, he’s just- himself. Free with his thoughts and happy to take pictures with anyone who asks, even if he insists on being seriously in-character whenever he has the mask on (although he does, with flamboyant acting, let any small child with a lightsaber “slay” him). Techie keeps having to remind him, gently, to take it off for Q&A’s and when he’s trying to pay for all the little figurines and t-shirts that keep piling up in his backpack. The vocoder is easy to understand up close but it doesn’t translate well when he’s trying to growl into a mic or talk over an excitable crowd to a merch dealer.

Before they know it, the exhibit hall is closed. People are leaving. Matt keeps his helmet under his arm, only putting it back on when they’re stopped for more pictures.

“Which hotel are you staying in?”

Techie blushes. “Oh, I’m- I’m sort of local, so. I didn’t book one.” 

“Oh.” Matt’s expression shifts, like he hadn’t expected that answer but it’s a… good surprise. “I live in the suburbs, but I didn’t want to drive back and forth, so I booked a room.”

_ Oh. Oh my god he lives here too.  _ “That’s smart,” he gets his mouth to say, definitely not having a slight panic attack that he might be able to see Matt after this. 

“It’s easier, for sure.” Matt blinks at him, his cheeks a little pinker than they work a second ago. “Do you want to get dinner?”

Techie’s heart strains as his ears heat up.  _ Please.  _ “Yeah, sure. That’d be great.”

He hasn’t really been thinking though, he realizes as they head into one of the hotel restaurants attached to the convention center. Sure, it’s full of people in costume, so he’s not out of place in his General’s gear, but….

The prices are… a lot. “Er-”

“What do you want?” There’s no judgement in the question, Matt doesn’t seem to want to know why Techie’s looking at the menu like that, it’s an… offer. No strings. Techie can tell- he’s had a lot of strings before. He knows what to look for. Matt’s just being generous.

“Are you sure?” he asks shyly. 

“Yeah. Whatever you want.”

“Okay- just the, um. Chicken fingers. Please.”

“Cool. Do you do milkshakes?”

Matt orders for both of them, getting a burger for himself alongside one dark chocolate shake and one strawberry shake for Techie. They talk about where they live- Techie’s in a dive on the north side, Matt lives out by the airport. “Closer to work. Air traffic control. Well, sort of. I keep all the equipment up. Kind of solitary but I don’t mind that, especially since there’s so many good podcasts now.”

Techie tries to pass off what he does as “freelance web design,” but Matt knows too much about tech to buy that outright. “Well… maybe more like some design and coding and also some… not always above board things.”

“Really?” Matt grins over his shake. “Cool.”

“It’s… wait, really?”

“Of course! You’re like- a real life version of the Master Codebreaker.”

Techie laughs. “Oh my god, I am not.”

“You are! I bet you totally are.”

“Not even a little bit.”

Matt nudges his shake toward Techie, turning his straw Techie’s way in offering. “I bet you are. You’re like- intensely cool.”

“Me?” Techie takes a second to make sure that no, he is not actually having an out of body experience, as he pushes his own shake across the table for an even trade. “Intensely cool?”

“Said what I said.” Matt’s grin goes all the way to his eyes.

Techie’s stomach churns with a flutter of  _ want.  _ He chews his lip, then focuses on trying  _ not _ to chew the straw.  _ God, how is he this perfect? _

They keep chatting until it’s late, way later than Techie meant to depart. “Oh god, I should go- it’s like an hour back by train.”

“It’ll be twenty minutes in the car. Come on, I’ll drive you.”

Techie’s heart flutters. How is it possible that he’s found the sweetest, most generous man in this entire convention? “That’s- that’s really thoughtful of you.”

“It’s no problem. Really.” Matt’s kind of a fast driver, and he yells at cabbies who cut him off, but Techie is absolutely infatuated. Even more so when Matt’s hand lands on his before he gets out, and he turns those ridiculously deep eyes on Techie like he’s the only thing Matt can see.  “I, um. I liked spending time with you. I don’t usually have anyone to, um. Hang out with at these things.”

Bravery is summoned from the spiral of thirst and swoon within Techie’s very soul, because Matt is actually too adorable to even exist. “I- I liked hanging out with you too. Do you, um- want to meet up tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’d love to. Are you dressing as Hux again?”

“Well- yes, but it’s, um. Not the uniform version. More, um. Casual.”

“Okay. I’ve just got a trooper ready for tomorrow, which is casual for me, so we can be casual together. Give me your number?” They trade, texting each other just to make sure they’ve got it right. Techie’s smiling like an idiot, not really wanting to walk away from the car, especially not when Matt’s blushing like that. “You could, um- pack a bag tomorrow? I’ve got a whole hotel room to myself. You shouldn’t have to run back and forth on the train.”

Techie blinks. “Are you sure? Did you get a double room?”

“No,” Matt smiles back. “But the bed’s plenty big.”

_ Fuck. Oh god fuck.  _ Right, yes, they did pretty much just go on an unintentional all-day date, so. It takes more willpower than Techie would like to admit not to just get back in the car and tell Matt he’d be happy to see the bed right now. “Okay. Yeah. I’ll find you in the morning to drop my bag off, then.” His fingers just touch the edge of Matt’s layered black sleeves. Part of him wants to invite him in, but- he should probably try for a hair of propriety. Probably. For today, anyway. 

He settles for leaning back into the car and brushing his lips against Matt’s in a very chaste, gentle kiss, despite his heart racing in his chest. “Text me when you get to your room?”

“Of course, General,” the deeper voice that Matt uses for Ren intones. Without the vocoder it’s…  _ oh god that’s hot. _ “Have a good night, Techie.”

Techie scurries in, watching as Matt waits to pull away.  _ Such a gentleman, making sure I get through the door safe and sound.  _ He starts calculating immediately- how much time will he need to get ready, how early does he need to leave to get to the hotel before the convention hours start. How long does he have for a little whacking off before bed, because if he doesn’t do  _ that _ he’s probably not going to be able to sleep. He’ll be too distracted.

_ Sharing a bed with him. Tomorrow.  _

Techie’s not sure he can really wait that long.

 

***

 

“Oh wow.” Matt’s mouth hangs open as he looks over Techie’s outfit. “You look great!”

“You think so?” Techie spins, showing off his yellow and pink ensemble- not the official version of the aerobics look for Hux, but just pulled out of his closet- pink leggings and a big oversized yellow sweatshirt, and yellow knee socks. The only thing he’s made special for this look is his hat, all pink with a bright yellow First Order symbol. It’s- well, if he’s being honest, it’s really flamboyant, but he doesn’t go out to clubs much to show things like this off. 

“Yeah, it’s perfect.” Matt grins at him. “Got your bag? I’ll show you where the room is- they gave me a second keycard anyway so if you need to swing back you totally can.”

“That’s- really nice, thank you.”

“Of course.” 

The room is nice, like most hotels in the area. Bed, closet, nice big bathroom. Techie puts his things in an unobtrusive corner, since a lot of the closet is taken up with armor. “Did you make all these?” 

“Yeah! It used to be harder- molding the plastics and stuff- but now I can just 3D print whatever.”

Matt gets on his stormtrooper gear as they chat about design and coding and the cool things people can do with 3D printers now, and before Techie knows it they’re back on the floor, immersed in a sea of nerds. 

It feels a little like he thinks “home” is meant to.

“What do you have planned today? Panels? Photos with anyone?” Matt’s flipping through the schedule as they wait in line for one of the convention’s games- something that’s actually advertising but is also a free way to get toys- or some actual swag, if they can win it. 

“Oh, no. I’ve only got one, and it’s the Phantom Menace group tomorrow.”

“Do you want to come to mine? I bought a bunch of the original cast ones.”

“Really?” Techie feels his heart roll over again. Matt is rapidly ascending from a cute potential bedmate to- something far more aspirational. “It’s not, like- extra money or anything?”

“Nope. Come with me! It’ll be fun. And you can keep me company in line.”

Techie smiles warmly. “Sounds like a fair trade.”

They come out of the game with a pair of plushes- porgs in Ren and Hux costumes- and make their way to the photo line. Techie tries unsuccessfully not to totally panic that he’s going to meet anyone associated with the films, while Matt plays it mostly cool. Apparently his form of famous-person-anxiety manifests more in the way of spouting random filming facts and uber fan lore, but Techie finds it at least a little relaxing to just listen to Matt go on about it. 

“Oh my god, I cannot smile in a photo to save my life.” Matt cringes outside as they’re picking up the copy. “I should just wear the helmet.”

“Do  _ not _ wear the helmet!” Techie steals said helmet and tucks it under his arm. “I can edit anything you don’t like about it, but I think you look great.”

“Yeah?” He’s-  _ oh my god, is he actually blushing? _ It looks cute on him, rosy cheeks under those thick glasses.  _ Maybe no one tells him he’s cute.  _ They should- it’s almost impossible to miss.

_ Well, we’re staying in the same bed tonight. Might as well commit.  _ He wraps his hand around Matt’s elbow. “Yes. You look exceptionally handsome.”

When they loop back through the line he keeps catching Matt grinning at him when he thinks Techie isn’t looking, and Techie is more than happy to grin back. Shoulder brushing turns to giggling while jostling each other, like they’re in fucking high school again. After the celebrity photos someone stops Techie to ask for a picture of his Aerobics Hux, and Matt fooling around behind him in his Stormtrooper outfit pretending to salute to Techie, both of them doing yoga, and then Matt showing off doing push-ups behind Techie’s Bird of Paradise pose somehow leads to Techie perching on him while Matt’s planking. 

And then Matt stands up, hoisting Techie right up on his shoulder.

Techie makes a rather embarrassing squeak of a noise, blushing and trying rapidly to pull himself together to be imperious-yet-aerobics-Hux, not thinking too hard about anything else he’d like Matt to be doing to him while picking him up.

_ God. _

When Matt pulls off his helmet again and lowers Techie back down, offering his hand for support, Techie very deliberately refuses to let go of it as he reaches in his bag to consult his program. “You wanted to do the military influences panel next, right?”

Matt blinks at him, looks at their hands, turns an interesting shade of rose, and nods.

“Okay.” Techie squeezes Matt’s hand and tries very, very hard not to smirk as he marches toward the escalator with his hulking stormtrooper in tow.

 

***

 

“Let’s get something to take up to the room,” Matt suggests as they wander past the hotel offerings, looking for somewhere that isn’t crowded. It’s gotten busier since the first day, with even more people coming in for the actual weekend portion of events. “I like it better when I can hear you talk.” 

Techie hasn’t let go of his hand in hours. “Oh yeah?”

“Mmmhm. Plus, I have something special in mind.”

_ Something special _ is not, as Techie assumed, an immediate invitation to hop on that dick, but dinner with Episode 1 on in the background. “A full chronological watch? How long is that going to take?”

“A long time. Especially if I work in the tv shows, but I haven’t decided about that yet.”

“And you want to start this now?”

“Well, it’s better with company. I’m not trying to do any, like, analysis.” Matt plops on the bed. “And I don’t mind talking during them. It’s not like we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“It’s still a lot. You won’t be able to get through them all this weekend unless you’re not planning on sleeping.” Techie’s hoping for sleep. He’s hoping for some other things too, but if he’s gonna give up sleep he’d prefer it be for something involving one or both of them losing a few articles of clothing.

Matt shrugs, smiling quietly. “Well, we could start now… maybe work through the rest after the con.”

Techie blinks. Alright, not only is Matt very into him, he’s hoping to see Techie  _ after _ this. For significant lengths of time.  _ Yes, please.  _ “In that case we might as well work in the tv shows. I haven’t actually watched them all yet.”

“Really? Oh my god, which ones did you miss-” Matt tangents off again, narrating about some characters that Techie’s only really heard of from the internet, and Techie counters with discussion of the books that  _ Matt _ hasn’t read. 

Even watching the movie they still have fun debating. Which of Padmé’s dresses is the best? Who is the hottest between Qui-gon, Obi-wan, and Maul? Techie edges closer, their fingers wrapping together. It feels… comfy, even with a dramatic fight scene on. 

“You know they put up some of the training videos? Like, how everyone got in shape for the films. Prequels and the new ones. It’s intense.”

“God, I bet. I mean Kylo is just-”

“Absolutely shredded, yeah.”

Techie sidles closer.

He puts his head on Matt’s shoulder, his chin tucking right into a broad pec-

“Oh my  _ god _ .” Techie prods the pec. “Matt.”

“I may have done the workouts.”

Techie inhales through his nose, unsure if steam is actually coming out his ears or if it just feels like that. “Take off. Your shirt. Please.”

There’s a half-second pause before Matt races to comply, shedding his shirt and tossing it across the room. 

Techie bites his lip as he takes the man in. It’s not only the pecs, there are  _ abs _ , and what looks dangerously close to a pelvic vee-

“Oh, that’s just fucking stupid,” he mutters under his breath. Matt looks put out for a second before Techie yanks him back down and plants his hands on Matt’s broad chest. “ _ How?” _

“Um- the gym?”

“No, I meant how did  _ I _ manage to get to so lucky meeting you.” Techie rolls, swinging his leg over Matt’s waist and planting himself right on those firm abs. Qui-gon’s unfortunate demise has been entirely forgotten. “You’re  _ insanely hot.” _

Matt blushes through to his ears, which is cute. Techie vows to make it happen more often. “Thanks?”

“Mmm.” Techie runs his eyes over this demigod splayed before him. “You don’t have to thank me yet.”

He watches Matt trace his tongue over his lips. “Oh no? Am I gonna be thanking you later?”

Techie leans down. “That’s the idea.”

“I knew you were the smart one,” Matt breathes, and then their lips meet.

Techie’s brain sparks for a while. This is good. This is all very, very good. 

Sometime later Techie wakes up and manages to startle the shit out of himself because he’s forgotten about all the damn helmets in the room, light from the glow of the city reflecting off their visors like a bunch of terrifying, shining eyes. He must make a noise, because Matt rolls over and drapes one of those massive arms over his waist. “S’wrong?”

“Your fucking helmets. Thought I was about to be axe murdered in bed.”

“Mmm.” Matt pulls him closer, back into the covers and the warmth of his chest. “Don’t worry. I’m bigger than any of them.”

The next days has a lot of panels they both want to go to, one photo op (Techie’s, this time- of course he brings Matt), and a ton of standing in author signature lines. “I don’t think I realized how much of this is just standing in line,” Techie notes somewhere in the afternoon, when caffeine deprivation is kicking in and he’s in one of the aforementioned lines using Matt as a standing pillow.

“Yeah, it is, kind of. But it’s not so bad when the company’s good, huh?”

They’re in their Ren and Hux costumes again, so when Matt carries Techie out of the panel piggyback style there are immediately a bunch of giggling photo requests. “This is a Kylux thing, isn’t it,” Techie murmurs in Matt’s ear.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Do you… like Kylux things?”

“Sure.” He can almost sense Matt’s quiet blush, hidden beneath the helmet.

Techie smirks.

After a lengthy conversation over dinner about favorite fics and art and where on the internet they hang out and- oh  _ god- _ exchanging screennames, Techie isn’t too surprised when Matt asks if maybe he can leave the General’s cap one while they’re making out later.

“Are you going to call me General?”

Matt makes a  _ very _ interesting face. 

“Mmmhm.” Techie takes a gamble. He snatches Matt’s wrists and puts them over his head. He doesn’t need to use much strength at all- Matt is  _ very  _ compliant, which is... fun in a way that feels like he might be on the verge of developing a new kink, though he’s not going to overthink that right now. “Lord Ren, you’re going to stay right there or I’ll have to get the Force cuffs out. I don’t want any of your mind tricks.”

The expression Matt’s making gets even better as his eyes dilate and his skin colors scarlet all the to his ears as he nods vigorously.

“What’s that, Ren?” Techie asks as he shoves up the costume tunic. At least Matt built a zip fly into this thing, or unlacing him would be a little ridiculous. 

“Uh- yes. Sir?” 

Techie smiles at him, letting himself  _ feel _ like Hux, all dark and evil and confident in what he wants. It’s a great attitude for sex, really, under the right circumstances. Like pretending you’re the Starkiller getting certain fallen Jedi in bed. “Good boy.” Matt makes a strangled noise and actually shivers under his touch.

Yeah, Techie is gonna keep this one, possible new kinks and all.

He doesn’t really mind that he’s sore enough the next day that he could swear he can still feel Matt every time he sits. It’s a pleasant sort of soreness, because of where it came from, and Techie’s sighs are happy ones. The whole night was very, very much worth it. 

They go shopping at the official store, and Matt loads up on a ton of branded stuff that costs way too much money with the justification that they all count as collector’s pieces and are therefore totally worth it. He even encourages Techie to look for a few things and puts it all, even Techie’s stuff, on his card, signing without ever really seeming to to look at the amount. 

“So- and you don’t actually have to tell me- does working for air traffic control pay really well, or are you also, like. The heir to something.”

Matt laughs. “My pay from work’s not bad, actually. But I get all my spending money from doing commissions. Armor and lightsabers or whatever people want 3D printed. There’s also, um.” Matt scruffs at his hair, like he’s not sure if he should say something, then settles for saying it at a volume a fraction above a whisper while looking directly at the floor. “There’s a ton of money in doing custom sex toys.”

Techie’s eyebrows shoot straight to his forehead. “There’s- what?”

“Yeah, people scan a dick pic in, I can model it and print a dildo or a plug or whatever. Logos, custom handles. Lotta options. ”

Techie gapes for a second. “Oh my god, that’s brilliant.”

“You think so?”

“Yes! Fucking genius, Matt.”

“You aren’t like- that isn’t weird?”

“Fuck no.” Techie takes his hand, smiling. “I’m just mad I didn’t think of it.”

They actually manage to  _ watch  _ Clone Wars that night, shockingly, as dragging all their purchases around turns out to be super tiring. Matt keeps combing Techie’s hair out with his fingers, which feels excessively relaxing. He nods off before Matt can put on the first episode of the tv show, and grumbles a little when sturdy arms lift him so he can be tucked into the sheets.

In the morning Matt has to check out. It feels weird, helping him load all his things in the car. Techie had gotten used to the hotel room. Used to having someone else with him.  _ Apartment’s gonna feel weird.  _ Maybe he’ll change something up. Crack the blackout curtains. Permit a whisper of sunlight in.

“Do you go back to work tomorrow?” he asks eventually, sometime when they’re wandering through the exhibit hall, looking for the last sales and giveaways of the con. 

“Yeah.” Matt adjusts his glasses. “Only took a few days off for this.” 

Techie nods. Matt’ll be going back to work, and he’ll be sitting alone in his dark room, quietly coding, and talking to no one at all. 

“You could come with me.”

He looks askance. Matt’s face is very serious, even with a blonde curl falling over his glasses. “Home?”

Matt nods vigorously. “Yeah, I mean- unless you have a, like- gig-”

“No, I’m- I can work remotely. If your internet is good.”

“It is. Really, awesomely good.”

Techie blinks, trying to wrap his head around it. “You want me to come home with you?”

“Yeah.”

It’s strange, even though he hoped- he really had hoped- that he could see Matt again, Techie didn’t really think he’d- not so soon, anyway. “Yes. I would. Like that.”

Matt’s grin is so expansive that it’s almost surprising Techie can’t feel solar heat radiating from it. “Great.” 

_ This _ feels right, then, getting into the car with Matt and holding his hand from the passenger seat, driving out past the airport to the suburbs. “What about tomorrow?”

“What about it?”

“You have to go to work. I’ll have to go back eventually. At least….” Techie blushes. He can’t believe he’s already considering how he can drag his entire computer rig over to Matt’s.  _ And stay. Maybe he’ll let me stay.  _  “At least for a change of clothes.”

Matt shrugs, smiling at him. “We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to visit me on Twitter or Tumblr @HastaLux


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